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A sharing by James Ho for this song:

In 1989 we arrived in Hong Kong. The following year, we were invited to join the church’s Easter Camp. The Camp theme was: “Arise and Shine”. The Camp Committee was selecting songs for the camp book. But somehow the news had spread that they had yet to find a song that could fit in with the Camp Theme.

One evening, while I was contemplating about the Camp Theme, a melody came to my mind and it fit in well with the words “Arise and Shine.” And no sooner, a string of music followed and it constituted into a song. The next day, while I was walking to church with my teammate, I shared with him that I have a melody in my mind. My teammate was gifted in music. He asked me to hum the melody. The minute I finished humming the music, he immediately reacted that it could be the theme song. When we arrived at the church, he went straight to the piano and started to play the song. He asked if it sounded right. I was dumbfounded! He not only played the melody of the song, he also played with accompaniment. I filled in the English lyrics while my teammate translated them into Chinese. I named the song “Arise and Shine” and it became the theme song for the camp.

That was the first time I ever composed a song. Actually, I knew nothing about music. I didn’t even know how to read music scores or count beats. I just started to learn playing guitar. People wondered how I could compose the song. All I could say was that the song was divinely inspired. All praise and glory be to God who put the melody and the lyrics into my heart and that became the Theme song.

1989，我们刚到香港。第二年，我们参加教会的复活节营。复活营的主题是“兴起发光”。复活营的统筹正在寻找营手册的诗歌。我们听闻他们还没找到适合的主题曲。

一个晚上，当我正在默想复活营的主题时，突然有一旋律漂浮在我脑海中刚好跟“兴起发光”这几个字配合。跟着，就有一连串的音乐继续的浮现形成一首歌。第二天，当我与队友一同去教会的时候，我对他说我有一个音乐不停的浮现在我脑海中，他要我哼曲来听听。他本来就是在音乐是很有天赋的。当他听了我哼的曲子，他马上说这曲子可能成为复活营的主题曲。

我们刚到达教会，他马上跑到钢琴前然后弹那首歌。他问我是否我所领会的音乐。我真的很惊讶，他不但弹那主音，还配上伴奏。后来，我加上英语歌词，他翻译为中文。我将这歌取名为“兴起发光”，配合复活营的主题。

这是我第一次作曲。其实，我是不懂乐理的。我不懂看歌谱，也不懂数拍子。我也刚刚才学吉他。有人问我怎样能作这首歌，我只能说这首歌是从神而来，是神启发我的。荣耀颂赞归于神。